For the Both of Us
by ThreeLeggedWolf
Summary: Having been reunited with Gabu, Mei wakes up to find his friend is missing.
1. Amiss

**Chapter 1**

**Amiss**

The warm rays of the morning sun shined gently on Mei's belly. The small goat yawned lazily as he turned over on the grassy hillside. He considered whether he should open his eyes or fall back asleep. He decided on the latter, and stretched contentedly letting himself relax some more. After all, he deserved the rest after the events that happened yesterday.

As he lay back, memories of the past winter filled his mind. Nearly starving to death in the mountains, being separated from Gabu in the avalanche, and worst of all, finding the Emerald Forest only discover that the wolf wasn't by his side. He really did think he had lost him forever. All these days he had lived without his dear friend, growing ever weaker and more hopeless with each day. But as soon as he had all but given up, he was reunited with Gabu. Of course, that nearly resulted in him getting eaten, but now the real Gabu was back, and the fact that he was lying next to him on the hilltop where they had watched the full moon proved it. They could truly be together now, for the rest of their lives, living in their hidden valley where no one could harm them. No matter what had happened in the past, the future would hold nothing but joy.

It was almost too good to be true.

He might have decided to doze off for a few more hours if he hadn't felt a gnawing pit in his stomach. Of course! He was nearly starving. In all the commotion of yesterday, he had completely neglected to eat. He opened his eyes to find himself lying alone on the hilltop.

_Gabu must have gone off to find himself some breakfast_, Mei thought. _I think I'll find myself some of my own food while he's gone_.

Mei spent the next few minutes grazing in the rolling green fields, consuming generous portions of grass to fill the pit in his stomach. If he found a particularly delicious-looking clover, he would put it aside to eat later when Gabu was back. It would be just like the first time they met to eat together_._ How terrified he had felt when he first laid his eyes on Gabu! But he had never been happier than in those first days of meeting with him. They had no idea back than what repercussions their friendship would result in. Those memories felt so distant now, like pleasant, long forgotten dreams.

Mei waited atop the hill with the clovers he had collected, keeping a lookout for any sign of Gabu in the distance. Mei still wasn't fond of seeing small creatures being eaten, but he accepted the fact that his friend needed meat to survive. At least he no longer had to offer _himself_ up as a meal!

_Strange, I would expect him to be back by now_, he mused as he started to munch on his breakfast. He was beginning to feel a bit concerned. Where could Gabu have gone off to? Back to the cave under the hill, perhaps? Had he missed him?

While waiting, Mei ended up eating all of his clovers until he felt quite full. However, the pit in his stomach persisted no matter how much food he ate. He was beginning to feel that it hunger wasn't the cause of it. No, the pit felt much deeper then that. In fact, he had only felt a pain like this once before in his life, when he was just a kid.

Several years ago, he was good friends with another goat, and played with her every day. That is, until one day when Mei had stayed back because he was sick. But she never returned that night. Everyone had searched for her, but nobody could find any sign of her. But no one had any doubt what had caused her disappearance. Mei remembered the look of despair on her mother's face after a few days of her absence.

He wondered if his grandma was feeling the same way right now.

That was what the pit was: despair. He had a horrible feeling that something bad had happened to Gabu. He needed to find him imediately.

_ Check the cave,_ he thought.

He hurried down the hill to the cave entrance. Completely empty. Just yesterday, this place had been his prison, yet now he wished deeply that Gabu were back inside, holding him.

"Gabu! Oh Gabu, where are you?" he cried. Why would Gabu just leave without telling him? What if something bad had happened to him? He had to be somewhere. He had to search the meadow and the forest.

His tiny hooves could hardly carry him fast enough as he ran through the fields looking for any sign of the wolf. He searched every hill and scanned every valley in the meadow. He looked behind every tree in the forest.

"Gabu! Gabu!" Mei shouted at the top of his lungs, startling a flock of birds in a nearby tree. That was it! Some of the creatures here were sure to have seen Gabu. The whole forest had been in uproar yesterday over the sight of a wolf after all. He would just have to ask one.

He spied a squirrel on a nearby stump.

"Hey, you didn't happen to see a wolf around here lately?" Mei asked.

"Wolf?" said the squirrel. "No, of course not. A wolf in the Emerald Forest, that's ridiculous!"

"B-but didn't you hear all the commotion about a wolf yesterday?"

"Can't say I have. Now, if you'll excuse me." And with that the squirrel scampered off.

This didn't make any sense! The squirrel had acted like Gabu didn't exist. He would just have to try again with someone else.

A deer, a couple of monkeys, a family of mice, none of them had seen or even heard of a wolf in this area. Mei was weak with dread now. His blue eyes were soaked with tears. His fur was matted with sweat. The constant calling of Gabu's name had made his voice hoarse. Yet, he found the strength to continue his search until nightfall, though in his heart he knew it was futile.

"Gaaaabuuuu!" he wailed into the the darkening forest. "You promised we would always be together!"

After spending hours searching desperately, Mei used the last of his strength to carry himself back to the cave and collapse on the cold rock. He felt completely alone now. Just last night Mei had said that he was having the best night of his life. It looked like tonight definitely qualified as the worst.

"Gabu…" he whimpered as he drifted out of consciousness. "Why did you leave me?"


	2. Awry

**Chapter 2**

**Awry**

That night brought no solace for Mei. Every time he managed to fall asleep he was tortured by nightmares and visions of malevolent creatures. Worst of all of these was a large shadowy figure that visited him several times throughout the night. It had round eyes that glowed in the moonlight, and two pointed protrusions on either side of its head. The eyes taunted Mei with their blank stare. The creature almost resembled a wolf, yet it moved in a strange, ghostlike way.

"G-gabu?" Mei whispered to the creature.

Though it was hard to tell for sure, Mei thought he heard a deep voice reply, "Your friend is not here, Mei," as he fell back into his uneasy slumber.

As Mei slowly gained wakefulness he realized that the form existed not in his head, but in the entrance of the cave, clear as daylight. As the cave gradually filled with the sun's rays, he saw the being for what it really was, not Gabu, nor any wolf, nor any supernatural creature.

It was an owl.

"Who are you?" demanded Mei.

"A friend," the large owl replied.

"You must be mistaken. I don't know any owl like you. How can you be my friend?"

"I have known you for quite some time, child," said the owl. "You see, nothing that happens in the Emerald Forest escapes the watch of my eyes."

The owl stepped outside, into the light of the morning, revealing its magnificent wings, and great patient eyes. Its head was pointed with two earlike horns.

"I first saw you many days ago, Mei. It was a peculiar sight indeed, a goat feebly wandering alone. You ate and slept very little. Originally surmising that you would soon collapse from exhaustion, I took you to be an easy meal – "

Mei jumped back.

"Do not worry, child," the owl assured. "You see, as the days went by, I became impressed with your resolve. You sought your friend, the wolf. Every day you neglected your own needs in favor him. You fought your body's endless call for respite. I developed a profound sympathy for your suffering, your refusal to die for the sake another. So, I became your silent guardian, watching you from the treetops. One night, though you did not know it, you were being tracked by a hungry fox. Well, now that fox knows to never go near you. Under my watch, no predator will harm you."

Mei listened in shock. This owl had been watching him this whole time? If so, why did it only make itself known today? "But, what happened to Gabu?"

There was a pause as the owl stared at Mei with a pained look in its eyes.

"There is more to the story. After days of continued survival, you finally collapsed out of exhaustion. At that moment I assumed you had finally succumbed to heartbreak, but just moments later you sprang up. You looked different; you had an ecstatic look in your eyes I had never seen before. You dashed off in a frenzy, out of the woods and into the meadows. Calling out your friend Gabu's name triumphantly, you ran to the top of an empty hill and, just like before, fell to the ground once more."

This information was too much for Mei. "You're wrong!" he shouted. "I woke up because I heard commotion in the forest! Everybody was panicking because a wolf was nearby except me, because I knew that my friend Gabu had finally come for me! And I was right; Gabu was on top of that hill." He pointed his horns toward the owl aggressively. "Are you saying that I imagined all of that?"

Patiently, the owl replied, "When we're weary due to lack of food or sleep, our minds can play tricks on us."

"No! No! I know it was Gabu on the hill I'll tell you why. He dragged me back to the cave after that. If I was alone how could I have woken up back in the cave?"

Unfortunately, seeing the great, strong wings of the owl, Mei realized the answer to his question.

"It-it was you?"

"I could not leave you up on the hill to die," the owl said. "Using all the strength in my wings and talons, I dragged your body to the nearest safe place, which happened to be a small cave under a hill. There I left you for several hours while I went hunting – I had worked up an appetite after using so much energy to get you to safety. When I returned later that afternoon, I could hear you talking inside the cave. I decided not to enter right then, figuring to encounter a stranger at that moment would confuse you further. You seemed to think you were talking to Gabu, yet unlike before, you were distressed; you believed he would kill you and eat you after the sun went down."

Mei's eyes were tearing up at this point. "He had every right to be want to kill me," he whimpered. "I left him to die!"

"Ah, you feel guilty about going on without your friend. That is understandable. But guilt was not the only emotion you felt that night."

"Gabu was about to eat me, or I thought he was – no he was, he was licking his lips ready to kill me. He had lost his memory of the time we spent together. I was just another well-needed meal for him! I wouldn't have minded sacrificing my life for him, but to be eaten by a vicious monster in the shape of my best friend, I just couldn't take it." He clenched his hooves. I said to Gabu, 'I wish we never met one stormy night!' And then…he came back. He was once again the wolf I knew and loved. He had no recollection of trying to eat me. I was so happy; all the guilt I felt before washed away when I saw the look of understanding in his eyes. He held no grudge against me. He's so – he was so wonderful." Mei broke down in tears.

The owl placed a wing over Mei's curled-up body. "Indeed, he sounds like a delightful friend. But don't forget, Mei, that he was lucky to have a friend like you too. You could have given up many days ago, but you kept going in hope of finding him. A friendship so strong is very rare indeed."

Mei looked up. "But none of that never happened!" It all made sense now. "Gabu was never here! It was all in my mind! Our reunion in the cave, watching the full moon together, all of that was just a waking dream!" Mei dropped his head to the ground, hiding his face behind his legs. He sniffed, "When Gabu said we would always be together, he wasn't lying. because he wasn't even there to begin with."

As Mei cried, the owl wrapped both of its wings around his matted fur, drying off his tears with their warm embrace. It didn't feel nearly as nice as being hugged by Gabu, yet it somehow felt better than nothing at all.


End file.
